Moments Unforgotten
by TheSongbird341
Summary: A collection of short vignettes surrounding Rumplestiltskin and Belle's days spanning from the Dark Castle to present-day Storybrooke, from both POVs. Watch as the relationship blooms and love enters the lives of the Beauty and the Beast...
1. Alone

**Moments Unforgotten**

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_A collection of short vignettes surrounding Rumplestiltskin and Belle's days spanning from the Dark Castle to present-day Storybrooke, from both POVs. Watch as the relationship blooms and love enters the lives of the Beauty and the Beast..._

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• **Alone •**

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Rumplestiltskin was always _alone_. It was all he knew — it was part of his identity to delve into his darkness, his magic, his power, somewhere only he knew. When anyone tried to penetrate the shield he'd put up, they paid for it – dearly.

It wasn't that he enjoyed being _alone_; no, that wasn't right at all. No one preferred loneliness. It wasn't human nature to lean toward reclusion — though, if you'd pointed that out to him, he'd remind you that he wasn't exactly human. He was the Dark One: no human emotion, no human needs, therefore not held to human standards.

But she saw past that. She was the first person to see past his hard, scaly outer shell, only to find there was a man, not a monster, deep inside. She discovered more about him than he knew of himself.

He had a heart; she'd felt it beat.

He had a mind; she'd heard him speak.

He had a life; she'd watched him live it.

But the day he'd let her live it with him? That was the day she truly understood who he was — why he was bitter and afraid and _alone_, utterly _alone_. It was clear to her then that he needed someone to stand behind him, or he'd be afraid to move forward. She could be that someone. She could help him conquer his fear and learn to love again. She could even learn to love him.

But why? Why did she turn to him, of all people, and offer a hand?

Because no one deserved to be _alone_.

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_**Thanks for reading! This is my first attempt at a vignette collection, so I hope it goes well with everyone :)**_

_**I adore Rumbelle, but I wasn't ready to write a whole story on them. Thus, the vignettes were born! I plan to write 30-50 chapters, all different, starting with each letter of the alphabet. They all have a key word (which is why "alone" was italicized every time it was used) that slowly span through their relationship at different points in their lives. This kinda covered the whole relationship up to this point; I wanted to start with something neutral and wordless.**_

_**So, yeah :) Follow, favorite, whatever you like. But please, PLEASE review! It can be two words, flame, whatever, I DON'T CARE! I just adore feedback :) So speak up!**_

_**Welp. That's all for now, folks.**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Once Upon A Time... but that would be so cool, right?_


	2. Busy

**Moments Unforgotten**

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• **Busy •**

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"Rumplestiltskin?"

Her shoes clicked as she walked down the wooden hallway, pausing as she peeked into every room in the large castle in search of the scaly-fingered man who had failed to call her down that morning. Being the early riser that she was, she'd woken anyway, but without a list of chores provided, she was left rather empty-handed. Without much else to do, she dressed and hurried downstairs, looking for the only face she'd see for the rest of life.

She still had to get used to that.

"Rumplestiltskin!" she called out, looking into every doorway. Where was he? She was beginning to think he was out when his voice erupted from across the hallway.

"In here, dearie!"

After taking a moment to smile at the term of endearment (though he used it on everyone; so why did she feel so special when it was directed at her?), Belle turned on her heel and followed the voice up a flight of stairs until finding him mixing a purple liquid in a flask. "Of course," she muttered humorously to herself before approaching him.

"Rumplestiltskin," she greeted him. "I was wondering if I could-"

"_Busy!" _he cut her off with a single hand.

Her eyebrows rose. "But I was just going to ask you-"

"No time for questions." He shooed her away and focused on the project at hand. "Go clean something."

She swallowed down a disrespectful remark at his harsh tone and looked down at him. "Rumplestiltskin, I know spinning 'helps you forget', but surely you haven't forgotten that I am a person, too."

He was clearly shocked by this response as he didn't say any more, but allowed her to finish her sentence. "I was asking," she continued, quietly. "if I could help with anything."

Humor returning to his eyes, he pretended to ponder this, pressing a finger to his chin. Finally, he looked up at her. "Put some tea on. I'll be up here for a while."

Belle nodded and turned back to the stairs she'd scaled moments before, but paused as a thought entered her mind. "Milk, sugar, or-"

"_Busy!"_

A smile crept onto her face. Rumplestiltskin was quite the tease.

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_**Dialogue in that one :) Don't forget to review!**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_DISCLAIMER: Knock knock. Who's there? Not Adam Horowitz or Edward Kitsis._


	3. Cold

**Moments Unforgotten**

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• **Cold •**

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She'd been lying like that for ten minutes now.

Curled up on her side, eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks, she was the picture of serenity if there ever was one. The very bottom of her smooth legs appeared from where her less-than-clean dress drew upward; they might have been the only part of her body that wasn't dirt-smudged or ink-stained. Apparently her first day cleaning the study was taxing enough to send her sleeping without permission. Pity that such an action was punishable. He'd have to wake her.

But as she lay there, even the tip of her nose soiled, chest rising and falling with her peaceful breathing pattern, he found himself quite unable to carry out the aforementioned action. His hand found its way to her upper arm, but froze at the contact; her skin was so _cold_. How long had she been there without a blanket? In the dead-center of winter he'd expected the practical girl to have considered a covering before dozing off. Had she really been so tired as to forget the chilly air of the Dark Castle?

Biting his tongue in consideration, he had to wonder if she'd be too tired to wake up and continue working. Perhaps it would be better he left her to rest up, in order to receive a full day of sleepless work following. Being a princess, she'd lived, with no understatement, a life of luxury up to this point. This amount of cleaning and serving must have been a shocking contrast to her previous life. And although his first mindset had been to break her of her old habits, his mind was opening to the possibility that she'd be better suited to a more gradual approach.

_More suited? _he echoed himself inwardly. What was wrong with him? He had no need to consider her opinions. He was her master!

At this thought, he immediately straightened up, prepared to thump her shoulder and wake her. But his strong resolve dissipated at the sight of ashy circles under her eyes. She really was exhausted...

No servant would be of any use when they'd no energy, he'd decided. He'd let her sleep, but wake her earlier the next morning. And he'd act like he never saw a thing.

So he turned to walk away, though something nagged at his mind. She was too _cold_; she would freeze on that chair if he left her. Not that he cared for her welfare, but for the fact that a frozen maid would do him no good whatsoever.

So, with little at his disposal, he pulled the cape he donned from his shoulders (he'd never liked the atrocious accessory anyway) and draped it over her person, until he was satisfied. He stepped back.

And looking at her fully in her peaceful state, he felt something new come over him – a sense of peace, himself. At first, the prospect of a new housemaid had been irksome; the little women he brought in had no mind to even speak or treat him as one would a human, and were usually so frightened or disgusted by him that they kept to their work quietly until they could take no more and offed themselves. None had dared to fall asleep on the job, and never on his chair! He should have been infuriated at her blatant rebellion – outraged at her thoughtlessness and fuming at her unexcused lazing!

But rather, he was satisfied. His new housemate was a person; not robotic or mousy or spouty-mouthed, but honest and humble and intelligent, but unafraid. His heart warmed at the thought that, just maybe, she was brazen enough not to throw herself off the castle balcony like many before her... that maybe, she'd stay. Maybe she'd revitalize the place inside him that longed for human contact, which he'd often shoved down under the Dark One guise and his own innate evil. Maybe she'd be able to vanquish the _coldness _within him as he'd warmed her physical frigidity.

Maybe she wouldn't be so bad after all.

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_**Well, that one was mostly musing from Rumpelstiltskin. I like writing from his perspective – it's very interesting to try to get into the mind of the Dark One.**_

_**A reviewer suggested I make these chapters longer; the reason these are so short is that they're vignettes. Vignettes are the size smaller than oneshots and drabbles. If you search "Vignette" it means a "short account or moment in time", which is why these are so short.**_

_**Speaking of vignettes, these will get more descriptive and will have lots of room for imagination, so if in the future, anyone would like to use one as a prompt or a plot for a story, just DM me about it and we can talk about it. I did that on an old account, and it was very rewarding to see my little vignettes turned into all-out stories :)**_

_**Thanks for reading! Reading without reviewing is reader's sin, so PLEASE leave a review! More reviews means faster updates, and I've got a lot in store :)**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_DISCLAIMER: Old McSongbird341 does not own, don't sue, don't sue, don't sue..._


	4. Dearie

**Moments Unforgotten**

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**• ********Dearie •**

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She shouldn't be so flattered. It wasn't like he reserved the name for her alone. Everyone was his ___"dearie"_, yet the term incited such warmth inside her. She tried to convince herself that it wasn't personal; it was merely a nickname he utilized in light of his blatant disregard for any personality claim to any human being lesser than him. She should have been offended that he hadn't care to use her actual name, but instead it made it so special. Everyone called her Princess, or Belle – _he _called her _Dearie_.  
At first mention, the name caught her off-guard. Such a sickeningly sweet label used in such a sinister way... it made her feel uncomfortable. He could've called her "servant", or "girl", or anything alike, yet he chose a term of endearment turned much less endearing. Often accompanied with his hands on her shoulders or something equally odd, she learned to fear the name as it was called from another room, as it confused her. Such tender actions with such mysterious intentions behind them? He was dangerous; _Dearie _was dangerous. She learned to react to the name with silence and eyes on the floor. That was the safest direction of action. Submission.

But it wasn't weeks later when she came to realize that submission wasn't what he desired; _Dearie _wasn't an intimidation tool. Even as she bowed her head and bent to his whims, he didn't seem satisfied. He didn't appear to have received the reaction he wanted from the term. What he wanted, exactly, still had her stumped.

As time went on, she softened to the name. It grew on her, and she couldn't help but feel that she'd grown on _him_, too. She was learning to tease, and he was learning to smile. She was learning to be his _Dearie_- whatever that may be. He seemed more satisfied, then. It was as if he wanted a friend, rather than a maid. A _dearie_, rather than a worker. She couldn't say she minded.  
And as time passed, she fell easily into the role of _Dearie_; and with that, they broke barriers none before her had dared to touch. Rather than a little housekeeper, Rumpelstiltskin had acquired a friend, and in doing so, found new hope in what used to be darkness and loneliness. Someone saw past the beast on the outside, to the man on the inside. He found someone willing to be his _dearie_, and she found someone willing to make her one. That's when walls tumbled down, and room was made for the much-existent hearts of the Beauty and the Beast.

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_**Wow! Holiday hiatus over, and I'm back to updating. Good to be back :)**_

_**Sorry it's been so long, but the holidays have been very busy, so I just took a break for it all. This marks the end of the break, so huzzah! Happy New Year's Eve, Merry late Christmas, blah blah blah!**_

_**Thanks for reading! Now, leave a review, and GO GET READY FOR THE NEW YEAR! Here comes OUAT's return... I mean, 2013.**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_DISCLAIMER: If I owned Once Upon A Time, I'd probably have to fire Robert Carlyle for stealing all the scenes._


	5. Easy

**Moments Unforgotten**

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**· Easy ·**

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No one ever said it would be _easy_. It wasn't ever going to be, and no one acted as if it would. No one was kidding her. Her act of heroism was to be the last _easy _thing in her recorded life.  
Belle knew - she knew that the heroes and heroines of times both previous and present never had an _easy _life. The _easy _way of life never led to fame and renown, therefore the memorable faces of history weren't daunted by the difficult lives they led. She supposed that it was a small price to pay, as she wished to be among the sea of faces and names repeated time and time again throughout history, in legends and tales; tales of a princess named Belle who saved her people by enslaving herself to the Dark One for eternity. She'd be surpassed by a title, of a woman who took action rather than took orders. Her selfless action would echo through the kingdom, and what better way was there to leave it? She'd live on a hero in their book, rather than be known as the girl who took the _easy _path and did as she was told. Instead of allowing her name to fade shortly upon her inevitable passing, she took charge of her own life and pushed past the protective arms and silencing hands in order to show what she could give to the world, to her kingdom... to her father. She saved them all, and although the choice was _easy_, the followup was another situation entirely.

Rumpelstiltskin, on the other hand, now lived a relatively _easy _life, this world and others at his beckon call, a signature away from whatever his heart desired. Known by most and feared by all, his shadow reached each corner of the land in a way the Evil Queen still seemed unable to mimic, touching every soul with a bone-chilling whisper before ripping it out of its host and taking it for his collection, leaving only a quill and a signed contract that sealed the poor soul's fate for time everlasting. _"Magic always comes at a price!" _he always said, yet it was a price he strangely never seemed to pay. With a mere flick of his wrist, he could conjure up unimaginable magic and somehow manage to redirect the price to someone else. He was the definition of _easy_, as far as anyone could tell.

But all was not well in the life of the Dark One - before he earned the aforementioned title, he was less-affectionately known as the coward, or, more specifically, "the man who ran". It was a fitting title, as all the man seemed to do was run. He ran from his problems; his poverty, his wife's hatred of him and his son's odd desire to go off to war. He avoided them in search of an _easier _life, but instead he was served with his wife's running off with another and the loss of his son. After the heartache he forced himself to live through, he found himself hardening his heart, pushing out any love. Solitude made him stronger; love was weakness. Loneliness was _easy_.

But, as fate would have it, two people that were tired of living the _easy _life were met by chance, and together, they'd learn that hard didn't always mean impossible, and that it was never too late to turn your back on your _easy _life for something worth fighting for.

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_**Sorry for the late update! I've had a lot of funeral business and such going on the past couple weeks, so it took me a while to find a quiet spot to just **_**write ****_this. Anywho, I think this turned out well, given the circumstances, so yeah..._**

_**OH. MY. GOD. BELLE LOST HER MEMORY! Rumple better KICK BUTT for her. 'Nuff said.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a review for our favorite OUAT couple :)**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_DISCLAIMER__: I don't own Once Upon A Time, but the people that do better know what they're doing. I can't do without Belle. Or Captain Hot... I mean, Hook. I guess we'll find out tonight, won't we?_


	6. Forever

**Moments Unforgotten**

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******· Forever ·**

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"It's _forever_, dearie."  
Such high stakes; her family, her friends, her world... Everything hanging on how she replied to the Beast before her. He was reminding her of something vital - it was ___forever__. _ She'd be chained to a master, a peasant servant rather than a royal princess,___forever__. _ Those people, the people that waited on her hand and foot for all of her life thus far, she'd never looked at as her future. She'd seen herself as a queen, ruling her country justly and with a firm hand, a female authority above all others. She'd imagined her adulthood as one of glory and heroism and power and independence. If she did this, if she went with him ___forever_, there was no turning back. Everything she'd dreamed of, everything she worked for, would be gone in one word, one sentence. All she had to do was agree and everything she wanted was gone, out of reach. Could she do it?

On the other hand, if she didn't agree, what would become of everything else? Not what she wanted, but what others needed, what others dreamed of and fought for; freedom. What would happen to her land and all within? Would one selfish decision destroy everything her father worked so hard for? Would one declination wreak havoc on other people's lives rather than her own, and if so, would she be able to live with herself thereafter? Would she be able to accept the fact that she'd murdered innocent people because of her own dreams and wishes?

No. It would never go away, and she knew that. It would haunt her ___forever__. _ What was the better curse?

"I will go with you... ___Forever__._"  
Little had she known that _f____orever_wasn't always, and that this ___forever_would be a brief time in her life she'd love, regret, and never forget.  
And after she truly met the Beast, after a long spell of shared company and quiet conversation, ___forever_didn't seem like such a bad idea. She wasn't sure she'd mind spending such a long time with someone that truly had a kind heart - so long as you looked deep enough - if he'd open up to her. And he did, after careful inching toward the deeper aspects of their lives and pasts, open up to her. She saw through his scaly skin and bullet eyes into his soul, as eyes were windows to one's soul, she always believed. She found a honest hurt and a genuine desire to heal it, and was willing to help with that. If it took ___forever_to do it... well, she had the time.

Unfortunately, ___forever_ended sooner than she'd expected, sooner than she'd hoped. Things had taken a sharp turn for the worst and she found herself out on her own, the walls that had fallen rushing back up and the hope she'd accumulated for the Dark One dissipating into self-ridicule for being a dreamer. She thought she'd have to wonder ___forever_if he actually cared, if he'd ever thought back and missed her, and wanted her again.

But as before, ___forever _ended sooner than she'd expected.

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_**Another key Rumbelle word I'm just astounded by. The line that prompted this chapter was one of my favorites from the first season of OUAT. Hopefully, the meaning behind this one overshadowed how long it took to update.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! It takes a minute and makes me smile for an hour :)**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_DISCLAIMER: It's pretty obvious I don't own Once Upon A Time. If I did, I'd have a bigger room._


	7. Gaston

**Moments Unforgotten**

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******· Gaston ·**

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Rumpelstiltskin was many things: powerful, intelligent, intuitive, and rich in every definition of the word. He was the Dark One; he was the Beast; he was the Man Who Ran; he was the coward who'd lost his son. He was the answer to many a man's deepest problem, no matter how impossible to solve, and never for a price he couldn't pay. He was the end to the ogre wars, but the beginning to another with his largest rival, Regina. He was the master to the martyr princess Belle, and he was also the master that set her free for a reason he would not explain. But he was no _Gaston_.

He didn't admire the man at all; he was weak and young, and hardly anything relevant in their age. He'd lived an attempt at a hero, and for it, died a flower. Rumpelstiltskin had a hand in that when he'd shown up at his castle, demanding his surrendering of the princess or death be to him. Death was to one of them, indeed.

But after he'd promptly dealt with the toy soldier of a man, and simultaneously provided Belle with a new gift, his thoughts began to invade him – _who _was the man he'd just ended; _Gaston?_ He was abnormally curious of one of his victims, and decided to slide the question into conversation with his servant. Belle informed him that _Gaston_ was hers to be wed, although she'd never much fancied him, honestly. And that was that.

And it should have been. But he'd asked more questions; what was he like? Would she have really married him? Why? He knew the answers to each of these, of course. He'd repeated them to himself every night since the encounter, discouraging himself in the process. He knew who _Gaston_ was.

_Gaston_ was a hero. He may not have ended a war, but he was the kind of man willing to start one for the woman he loved. He might not have made promises to everyone in the Enchanted Forest, but he was a man who would readily make one promise to a single woman, to bind them to an eternity of more promises, of care and protection. He surely hadn't freed a woman of her slavery, but he hadn't the need to bind one to such circumstances in order to make her stay.

_Gaston_ was the kind of man that someone like Belle deserved in her life. Whether or not he had the power to kill a thousand men with a flick of his wrist, he could give her the life she was worth – and she'd not resent him for what he couldn't give her, for a woman wanted oneman _living_, not a thousand dead. He wasn't the quickest or the wittiest, but Belle didn't seek intelligence, for she hadn't need to depend on it. He certainly couldn't provide her with endless gold and riches, but what he could give her was worth so much more. He could give her love.

Love was something Rumpelstiltskin hadn't quite mastered yet. He'd seen it; he'd bottled it; he'd destroyed it. But never could he give it, to her or to anyone, for he had no exact certainty of how it felt. He didn't realize that he'd received it from Belle until it was too late, and if he couldn't see it when it was right in front of him, he didn't imagine he could conjure it up as he did gold of straw or a rose of a man. That's where he'd been beaten. He could give her the world, and everything in it... _except_ love. That was all _Gaston_ could give her.

This was the reason, or one of the reasons, he'd let her go. He lay awake every night, never a second of sleep, trying to think of ways or deals or spells that could create in him an ability to feel, to live, to _love. _In the end, he knew he couldn't. It was simply impossible. He'd hardened his heart, buried himself so deeply that he couldn't get out. And if he couldn't give her what she deserved, he wouldn't keep her from someone who could. There was another man like _Gaston_ out there, waiting for her. Who was he to hold her back?

He'd never realized that his very willingness to let her go, to give her a chance at real happiness with a man like _Gaston_, proved that he could give her the love she deserved... because he _did_ love her.

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**_First off, sorry I haven't posted in forever! I'm trying to keep some of these for the summer, which __is coming up soon, so don't be angry :( This year has been insanely busy, so I was lucky to get this update in. But I'm not letting this go to hiatus, so no worries :)_**

**_I really do like this chapter. It shows how little Rumpel knows about Love. He didn't realize that by wanting to better himself and wanting to give her what she deserved, he was proving how much he really DID love her! I always find his character so fascinating because, for a man who knows so much, he seems to know so little about emotions, and moreover, himself. There are some simple things like loving and caring that come naturally to most people but are so utterly complicated to him. If he could get right in his head again, he and Belle (or anyone, for that matter) would have a chance. Hopefully we'll see some of that happen in Lacey (airing on the 21__st__ – can you believe that?!), but who knows?_**

**_By the by, I probably won't update again this week – my birthday is this weekend, so I'm taking a wee break from anything I'm posting and just chilling. I'll be back soon enough :)_**

**__***** *-TheSongbird341-* ***

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_DISCLAIMER__: Guess who doesn't own Once Upon A Time? Reba McEntire. But also me._


	8. NOTICE

**NOTICE**

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This story has been cancelled. Please visit my profile page for more details.

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

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_"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."  
- Psalm 34:1_


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